It can be daunting writing a CV- how are you meant to show how great or experienced you are on just a few pages? So, you’ve made your font choice, listed your skills and experience and sent it off. But have you done enough? Is it what the recruiter is looking? Will it stand out from the hundreds of other CVs? Ben Gowing, a top performing sales recruitment consultant at Saleslogic shares some of the top things he looks for in a CV
‘First things I look for are stability in their career, over-achievements and something that makes them ‘stand out’.
‘It’s always interesting to see how someone has progressed – are they climbing the ladder or shifting rungs. Stability in your career or lack thereof can be very telling. We’re always looking for the best, so I look out for any over-achievements; targets reached or big wins.’
‘Once I’ve checked they’ve got the experience or skill set required, I start looking at what makes them stand out or makes them different from someone with a similar skill set. This could be big targets reached or something relating to their interests outside of work, something that highlights they have high activity levels, would be great in a social environment and a client wouldn’t mind being stuck for 3 hours alone with them at an airport!’.
What about the layout? Think quality over quantity. Keep it short and concise, and easy on the eyes. ‘I’m looking for specific details and I want to be able to find it quickly. I want to see the company you worked for, your role and the time frame. Show your key responsibilities but be brief and keep it relevant for the job you’re applying for, and definitely, show your achievements. In sales, it’s often all about the numbers, so we want to know the targets you reached, the percentage of increased sales etc. Displaying your responsibilities and achievements in bullet points help convey information quickly, and help the recruitment consultant spot what they’re looking for more easily.’
So, is there anything Ben doesn’t want to see? ‘Spelling mistakes or grammatical errors- they stick out like a sore thumb! No matter what level you are, you can still easily include the wrong ‘they’re/their – so make sure you’re thorough or get a fresh pair of eyes to take a look.’
On average, a CV will spend around 20 seconds in the hands of sales recruitment consultant before a decision is made. That’s not a huge amount of time to make a winning pitch- So maybe on your final CV edit, put your sales recruitment hat on and think- if I wanted to know this, could I find it 20 seconds?
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Saleslogic is a leading Sales Recruitment Agency in London. We specialise in digital sales jobs, SaaS sales jobs, software sales jobs and more. Click here to view sales jobs we are currently recruiting for.